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Saturday, May 19, 2007

Ah yes, that's more like a proper shrine to us.

Hey... what's that shiny thing sitting up top of the blog? Could it be... a fancy new banner?? It's about time... with all the blogtinkering of late, I neglected the most important part! But I was finally inspired by Rosie's lovely new banner, and all the crazy amazing artists constantly churning out banners on livejournal. So I spent my friday night brushing off my EXTREMELY rusty nonexistent photoshop skills. Seriously, the last time I professed to have any expertise in graphic design software was probably about 1993, and canvas 2.0 or whatever was the latest and greatest. So jumping into Photoshop CS was, err, a bit bewildering. But I soldiered on and so here you are. A new banner for this blog, AND one for my recipes!

I'm not totally happy with them, but hey, gotta start somewhere and all that. The recipe one is fairly straightforward, I just stole some art from random places online, and only had to do a bit of retouching and added text on the index card. I got a little more ambitious on this one, and I think it's a little busy but I like all the elements. At least one contributor would like to be credited, and since I apparently respect their wishes a bit more than copyright law, here goes:

The frame is cropped from this photo of a real frame - I found it here at deviantART, which seems like a cool community of shared art. (Thanks, Suzanne Phillips.)

This background texture is also from deviantart, and I couldn't NOT use it after reading the description: Grungy paper found at abandoned meat factory.

The background is layered with this texture, which is a picture of real stained glass.

And the text is this blue texture showing through, and I can't find where I got it from, but it was a photo of some actual painted surface.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm so intrigued by the idea of digital art made from 100% real live stuff. (It's like the outsider art of tomorrow, todaay!)

As soon as I get that copy of Photoshop for Dummies I requested from the library, I'll be making brushes and downloading fonts like the pros slightly more talented amateurs.

Yes, the "cowlick" would most definitely approve. Especially if he had been given the opportunity to check out the original. Or any facsimile. He's still got it. The graphics are lovely. You've got my vote too.

On another note, I have just discovered how amazing Ecuadorian chocolate is. How about some dark chocolate recipes? That are healthy. And low fat. And easy. N

yes, it's not just a shrine to me and katie! When I answered briana's comment I was picturing his reaction the genuine item...

and thanks for the vote.

and is there anything wrong with plain chocolate?? hehe. We made this fabulous "midnight almond" mousse cake thing with chocolate and tofu, and my mom is actually making it for her open house tomorrow. and i hope she takes pictures and writes about her experience as a guest blogger :) (Geez, I really will be stealing ALL the veganlunchbox moves.) But I wouldn't call it easy. BUT I will be on the look out! In the meantime I keep meaning to share with you some other awesome recipes, but you should remind me which foods are :) for you right now, and which are :(